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Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Okay, so I’m stopped feeling sorry for myself now. 48 hours of wallowing is enough for anyone, right?I finished Caitlin Moran’s book and found some bits I didn’t agree with, a few cases of lazy writing and a really bad bit of grammar and consequently felt MUCH better.Plus I’m talking to my aches and pains and we’re reaching some kind of uneasy rapprochement.

But mainly I started getting it all into perspective: talking to my lovely friend Zoe on Twitter and realising about all the health shit she has to go through on a daily basis (without making a fecking song and dance about every little twinge like yours truly); thinking about a mate in London with MND who has just the most incredible attitude to life.And then an email came through from a local friend, Ceri, about her new book.So, enough already about poor pathetic me – I want to introduce you to the marvellous Ceri Keene and talk fly-fishing, breast cancer and, er, trout.Yes, there’s a link – bear with me.

‘Who the feck is that beautiful, serene woman,’ I thought when I first saw Ceri, years back.She seemed way too exotic and glamorous for Exmoor somehow.I was sure she’d be a total bitch but, sadly, not:she’s just plain lovely.Oh and she’s a hugely talented graphic designer too.She’s one of those people I don’t see enough but, when I do, I come away feeling the world has just brightened up a little, come a little more into focus somehow.

Anyhow.I’m waffling.Let me hand you over to Ceri so she can explain the fishing thing.

Typical Ceri - I asked for a pic of her and she sent me this

Ceri Keene: ‘If anyone had suggested going fishing three years ago, I would have laughed at the idea but being diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2009 changed all that. Treatment involved chemo and radio therapies and during one of my tedious hospital sessions, I cast my eye over a flyer for South West Fishing for Life, a charity for post-treatment breast cancer. I contacted Gillian Payne, the charity’s founder, who invited me to their next fishing session at Wimbleball Lake.

I found being out in the fresh air with a new purpose very invigorating and quickly took to fly-fishing under the instruction of the volunteer professional coaches. By the time I caught my first trout, I was hooked!

Wimbleball Lake on beautiful Exmoor

Rather than be isolated by the illness, I have learnt fly-tying, entomology and conservation, exercised the correct muscles for recovery and have a reason to meet with understanding people in a lovely place. The sessions include a buffet lunch or a barbeque and conversation often turns to what to do with your catch – generally, people grilled their fish, which can get a bit boring if you catch a lot, so that is how I decided to give something back – having had a career as a graphic designer I decided to produce a recipe book to ‘pep up’ those fly-caught Exmoor fish!’

Cool huh?Being Ceri, she didn’t just cobble together any old ring-bound book of recipes; she went to top-flight chefs, including Jamie Raftery from The Castle in Taunton, Andrew Dixon of Andrew’s on the Weir, Tom Aikens, Leith’s etc.Along with a cast (*groan*) of Exmoor locals, they donated recipes for an absolutely beautifully designed and produced cookbook in aid of breast cancer support charity South West Fishing for Life.It helps women (and men – yes, men can get breast cancer too) recuperate after breast cancer treatment with flyfishing (which is a gentle yet highly effective rehab tool).The book is called Fishing for Life:a collection of fly fishing recipes from Exmoor and will cost a very reasonable £9.99. UPDATE - you can now order from Amazon or direct from the Fishing for Life website (above).

Here’s where you come in.The book is launching very soon and I’d love to get it publicised as far and wide as possible.Do you know anyone in the media who might review it?Are you a journalist or editor who might feature this fabulous story for a magazine or paper?Are you a food blogger who might include a few recipes and point people in the direction of the book?Or maybe you could tweet about it?Or RT one of my tweets when I yak about it on Twitter?Any little thing helps.

If you can help, please please get in touch and I can put you in touch with Ceri.And, of course, once the book is available, I’ll let you know so you can (hopefully) buy it.

In the meantime, as an, er, taster, here are a few recipes.Irony is, of course, that I don’t eat fish…but apparently they are very very good.

Add the salt, sugar and coriander seeds to a food processor and process for 1 minute.

Pack this mixture over all the trout and wrap tightly in cling film.

After one day wash off the salt mixture and slice thinly.

For the Chilli Jam

Dissolve the sugar in water on a low heat. Increase the heat and when the sugar just starts to colour add the chopped chillies and rapidly boil for 5-10 minutes.

For the Crème Fraiche

Mix the lime zest, salt and pepper into the crème fraiche.

To Serve

Lay the thinly sliced trout on a plate and then dot around quarter of a teaspoon of the chilli jam (beware, this is rather hot!). Also dot about 2 teaspoons of the crème fraiche around. Finish with some leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

7 comments:

Well given that the house and cottage I have fallen in love with is just a healthy yomp from the lake, I better buy the book and move there pronto.

There's a group of ladies on in Southampton on the Solent who go dragon racing for similar reasons - I loved that but its so far to go and reminds me too much of my daily trips for 5 weeks down the M3 for RT for same.

Yum Yum, those fish recipes look wonderful. What a cool, cool sport(?), hobby, whatever, to take up after dealing with something so stressful as cancer. I love stories about women actually "growing" as they grow older. Inspiring! Funny note - when I saw the title of your other prior post, I thought...what the heck? You see, I live in Houston, TX, and at the jr. high where I used to work we had a young gym teacher by the name of...you guessed it ~ Caitlin Moran. I thought..."surely not" and, of course, it wasn't the same Caitlin Moran. It does make me chuckle, though, when for that brief moment I couldn't iMAGine what sweet little Caitlin Moran here in Houston had done to get under the skin of this hip, talented English woman miles and miles away! ha ha.

Caitlin's book is funny but as discussed on Twitter, I (we, daughter too) don't like the abortion bit. My additional comment is her over indulgence in the use of exclamation marks but I suspect that it is deliberate, to niggle folk like me . 'An exclamation point is like laughing at your own jokes. —F. Scott Fitzgerald.